BaL 18.06.11 - Wagner: Tristan & Isolde

[Joseph K]

I got to know the piece through the Böhm recording, which apart from anything else really sounds like I imagine the Festspielhaus to sound (for example the strings at the beginning of act 3), but Kleiber is the one I listen to these days. For me Margaret Price has exactly the sort of sound I like to hear as Isolde, even if (as yet?) there's been nobody with a voice like that who could perform the whole thing in one evening; and the Dresden Staatskapelle is at its best and beautifully recorded. And then there's Kleiber's vision of the piece. Nothing (as yet?) comes close to this recording of the work as far as I'm concerned.

I've had this on my to-listen-to list for a while now:



... and on the strength of RB's above recommendation, I've just ordered the Kleiber...

[Cockney Sparrow]

I got to know the piece through the Böhm recording, which apart from anything else really sounds like I imagine the Festspielhaus to sound (for example the strings at the beginning of act 3), but Kleiber is the one I listen to these days. For me Margaret Price has exactly the sort of sound I like to hear as Isolde, even if (as yet?) there's been nobody with a voice like that who could perform the whole thing in one evening; and the Dresden Staatskapelle is at its best and beautifully recorded. And then there's Kleiber's vision of the piece. Nothing (as yet?) comes close to this recording of the work as far as I'm concerned.

I'm a fan of Margaret Price, wish I'd seen/heard her live. Great Mozart recordings, lieder etc, though I can't claim to have acquired extensive knowledge of her recordings and career (competing claims - other singers, life....).

The first time I was taken with her voice on recording was her glorious contribution to the Boult recording of "The Kingdom" - The Sun Goeth Down and generally....... (Time was, here, I could rely on a slew of deprecatory comments about Elgar's Oratorios....... This forum has undergone change, maybe tolerance, maybe not - those for whom Elgar doesn't appeal don't have the wish/spend the time to say so at every opportunity).

But yes the Kleiber / Price recording, although noted as from a performer who wouldn't perform it live at the time, was and is nonetheless a great listening experience. And with the concentration on return to former performance practice, now it seems it could well have been the case that Price would have suited performance in Wagner's time. (As my singing teacher in mye 20's told me - the great singers (such as Lilli Lehmann) didn't have to have "heldentor/dramatic soprano" dominant battle tank type qualities as even in opera by Wagner in those days they were singing in a different envrionment and weren't, on the whole, overwhelmed).

[Belgrove]

I find Tristan a tough listen on CD, whereas a live performance is one of the great musico-theatrical experiences to be had (irrespective of the production). The unresolved cadences and coiling tensions are too much to bear without a visual accompaniment. However Kleiber’s account is the notable exception to that rule. It’s a sensational performance, and Price is remarkable, ideal for listening at home where a traditional heavier voice in the role becomes wearing. But it’s Kleiber’s conducting that is most remarkable, just listen to the Prelude, one almost feels seasick as his tempo fluctuates subtly with slipstreams and undertows as Isolde’s ship plows towards Cornwall. The orchestral sound is, oxymoronically, light and transparent yet has a profound depth and density. His pacing throughout the entirety of Act 2 is perfect, and the Prelude to act 3 seemingly fills all available space, yet remains pellucid. It really is a miracle.

[Cockney Sparrow]

For the completely live experience, there is an unedited recording of the performance from Bayreuth on 13/8/66 on an Italian label Europa Musica 051-051 released in 1987. Voices show remarkable resilience right to the end, with Nilsson stupendous at the last.

Just listened to Act 1 of the Europa Music recording, clearing out my workshop (never used as a double garage). In which I have a decent audio system. I can't compare it to the DG Bohm (so far*) but its an incredible performance.... Those were the days! (BTW my CDs also refer to "Frequenze" Published 1987 but have the same Cat. No and the CDs have the MUSICA EUROPA printed on them. I agree the sound is very adequate (although I don't dwell on recording quality unless I am aware of a level of deficiencies).

*I haven't exactly achieved much there in the sense of a workshop. The quantity of non-living space contents to be sorted and disposed of means I can listen to the DG Bohm, and the Ring, and.....well quite a lot more..... (Except I can't listen to Wagner continuously.................)

[Barbirollians]

I found I got to enjoy Wagner a lot more when I adopted the Adrian Boult approach of listening to an act a day.

[Joseph K]

I found I got to enjoy Wagner a lot more when I adopted the Adrian Boult approach of listening to an act a day.

That's what I've been doing.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

...one almost feels seasick...

I find that in the third movement of CK's Brahms 4, where he renders the attack accents in bars 2, 4 etc as agogic accents. Whatever the other merits of that recording, the queasiness that this induces makes me unwilling to take it from the shelves very often.

[Katzelmacher]

I've had this on my to-listen-to list for a while now:



... and on the strength of RB's above recommendation, I've just ordered the Kleiber...

Maybe unfair but, having heard Treleaven in stage, I’d run a mile from any recording of him.

[Barbirollians]

For the completely live experience, there is an unedited recording of the performance from Bayreuth on 13/8/66 on an Italian label Europa Musica 051-051 released in 1987. Voices show remarkable resilience right to the end, with Nilsson stupendous at the last.

Finally, catching up with this . It is terrific Nilsson in particular and was preposterously cheap when I bought it from Amazon.